Thai police charge nightclub owner over fatal fire

Onlookers gather around the Tiger disco nightclub in Phuket, Thailand, after a fire killed at least four people there in the early hours of the morning on August 17, 2012.

Audience submitted: Angelo Embuldeniya

Thai police have charged a nightclub owner with gross negligence over a fire that killed four people, including two foreigners, in August.

If convicted, Piya Isramalai, owner of the Tiger Group, faces up to 10 years in prison for the pre-dawn blaze on 17 August at the Tiger Discotheque in Phuket.

He is also accused of operating a business outside of legal opening hours.

"He was officially charged last week after he surrendered to police," Lieutenant Colonel Kittipong Klaikaeo, the Phuket police investigator, is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

He said the case file would soon be submitted to prosecutors.

A British and a French tourist, as well as two Thai women, died in the fire, which is believed to have spread rapidly because flammable materials were used in the construction and decoration of the nightclub.

Eleven other people were injured in the incident.

Police believe an electrical malfunction caused the blaze, which occurred during a thunderstorm.

Last year the owner of a Bangkok nightclub where more than 60 people died in a 2009 blaze was sentenced to three years in prison for gross negligence.